OTHER SKI RESOURCES

Trude Beiser-Jochum

First Female Skier to Win Two Medals

Trude Beiser was not quite 21 years old when she raced in the Alpine skiing events at the 1948 St. Moritz Olympics. In the downhill, she won the silver medal behind Switzerland’s Hedy Schlunegger. Then she competed in the Alpine combined, which consisted of one downhill run and two slalom runs. Beiser placed second in the downhill portion of the event and eighth in the slalom portion. However, her total score was good enough to earn the gold medal.

She thus became the first woman skier to win two Olympic medals, beating Gretchen Fraser to the honour by one day. Between Olympics, Beiser married and began competing as Trude Beiser-Jochum. The combined event was eliminated from the Olympic program, so, at the 1952 Oslo Games, Beiser-Jochum entered the downhill and the slalom.

This time she won the gold medal in the downhill, beating Annemarie Buchner of Germany by nine-tenth of a second. She also finished in a tie for eighth place in the slalom.